President Isaias has a reputation as an ascetic leader, untainted by the corruption and selfishness which has polluted the character and reputations of so many other African leaders.

However, the UN Monitoring Report makes very clear that he allows the senior officers in his army to be corrupt and extremely selfish.

It explains how General Teklai Kifle “Manjus”, who commands the Western military zone on Eritrea’s border with the Sudan, abuses his position to make vast sums of money – all of which ends up in Swiss bank accounts.

The Report shows how he transports and sells weapons all over Africa.

He is also involved in that network of people smugglers who help people to leave the country for $3,000 per person, and then demand a ransom paymnent of $20,000. The Isaias regime is part of this corruption – the poor families who have to raise the ransom money suddenly discover that the money has to be paid to offiicials based in the Eritrean Embassies in Egypt and Israel.

There can be no doubt that President Isaias knows that this is occuring, and allows his senior Generals to continue these corrupt activities.